PLNU News

The San Diego Military Advisory Council (SDMAC) announced theresults of a report completed by PLNU’s Fermanian Business & Economic Institute (FBEI) today. The report quantifies the economic impact on the San Diego area that would result from the proposed Navy Broadway Complex Redevelopment proposed for thedowntown area.

SDMAC and Dr. Lynn Reaser of PLNU presented the report at a press conference on Friday, October 28, at 10:30 a.m., at the Broadway View Room on the Broadway Pier, San Diego. Ruben Barrales, President & CEO of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, also participated in the program.

John Pettitt, president of SDMAC, said, “The proposed Navy Broadway Complex Redevelopment project represents a major development effort for San Diego. The project will have a positive impact of great significance to jobs, income, and the San Diego region’s total output of goods and services. It is estimated that as a result of the redevelopment 7,400 total new jobs will be created, and over $350 million in income and nearly $850 million to the region’s total output would be generated. This redevelopment project would provide a highly productive use of now largely vacant land and generate sizable tax revenues.”

Jessie Beauchaine (98) served as the associate producer for the documentary "I Came to Testify," part of the PBS series "Women, War & Peace." She started by researching, trying to “determine whether or not there was a story in Bosnia.” It quickly became clear that the information she was gathering was not just interesting, but deeply impactful.

"I Came to Testify," narrated by Matt Damon, tells the story of the story of how rape and sexual enslavement was used as a weapon of war in Bosnia. Ultimately, the film became the story of a handful of women who testified at the International Criminal Tribunal in The Netherlands. Because of their testimonies, wartime rape and sexual enslavement were deemed crimes against humanity for the first time in history. This established a standard for how sex crimes would be prosecuted in future conflicts.

“I talked to all sorts of people – NGO administrators working with women victims of war, prosecutors at the Yugoslav Tribunal in The Netherlands, journalists who'd covered the war in Bosnia and the break-up of Yugoslavia, and in particular, anyone who had worked with or reported on the use of mass rape during the war and the women who'd survived it,” said Beauchaine.

Beauchaine calls her journey to documentary filmmaking “circuitous.” She graduated from PLNU with a B.A. in history. She began researching documentary filmmaking graduate programs after graduation, but shied away out of fear of inexperience. She went on to obtain a master’s degree in Christian ethics from Fuller Theological Seminary. It was there that she developed an interest in social justice work, but took a job as a writing and critical thinking instructor at Soka University in Orange County, Calif, an experience she says “gave me time to reflect on where I wanted to go next.” After five years there, she was accepted into Columbia University’s School of Journalism. She graduated with a print journalism degree and after freelancing in a bottomed out economy, she took an internship with "Women, War & Peace."

“The series involved history, social justice, obviously journalism – everything I wanted in a career. So I threw myself into it and was ultimately promoted twice over the almost two years I was there,” said Beauchaine.

Her seemingly meandering journey has led her to a place that has combined all of her experience and passion into the perfect mix.

“Until recently, I looked at my history degree, seminary training, scads of internships, five years of teaching – as false starts,” said Beauchaine. “And now I marvel at the fact that I ended up more or less where I'd wanted to be in the first place, only now I'm better prepared to assume the responsibility of telling what I think are important stories, and it's exactly because of those other paths I've taken. For the first time in my life, I'm deeply grateful for the learning experiences that have come to me throughout my different attempts at finding myself and my purpose.”

Kiplinger's Personal Finance today announced PLNU in the top 100 of its annual best values in private institutions, naming the private universities and liberal arts colleges that combine outstanding quality with affordability. PLNU ranked No. 67 out of all private universities.

Selected from a pool of more than 600 private institutions, the schools on the two lists were ranked according to academic quality and affordability, with quality accounting for the majority of the total. Criteria included admission and retention rates, student-faculty ratio and graduation rates, as well as data on cost and financial aid.

Each year, Kiplinger's assesses quality according to measurable standards, including the percentage of students who are admitted out of those who applied, the test scores of incoming freshmen, the ratio of students to faculty members, and the four- and five-year graduation rates.

This year, Kiplinger adjusted its criteria to better reflect the issues affecting families. Now, the rankings give more weight to the four-year graduation rate – a measure of the college's ability to deliver academic support and of the overall cost to families – and to colleges that keep student debt down. While the criteria have shifted, the focus on value remains the same. Many of the schools on the top 200 list have appeared in Kiplinger's rankings in previous years, demonstrating that these schools consistently deliver good value.

"The institutions on Kiplinger's rankings for best value in private colleges represent schools that provide high-quality academics as well as affordable cost even in these tough times," said Jane Bennett Clark, Senior Associate Editor for Kiplinger's Personal Finance. "With money tight and the college choice so important, you have every reason to expect the best bang for your buck."

On Oct. 22, over 6,500 people attended Point Loma Nazarene University’s annual Fall Festival, a free event for the San Diego community. One of the highlights of the event has become the presentation of the Presidential Community Service Award, given to individuals who express the university’s value of community service.

This year’s recipient was Malin Burnham, chairman of John Burnham & Company Insurance and Burnham Real Estate.

In addition to his involvement with the Burnham Companies, Malin has been active as a board member of several major corporations. His present involvements include: board member of Sanford|Burnham Medical Research Institute, UCSD Foundation, Rady School of Management, SDSU Campanile Foundation and the USS Midway Museum, and co-chair of the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine. Malin served as Trustee of Stanford University from 1985 to 1995. He also co-established the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate at the University of San Diego.

Malin has been a world-recognized sailor for five decades and has helped San Diego achieve prominence in both local and professional sports. At age 17, he became the youngest skipper to win a World Championship in the International Star Class. In 1987, he played a leading role in bringing the America’s Cup to San Diego.

Malin has received many awards for his community and professional work, including the Junior Achievement/San Diego Business Hall of Fame, Philanthropist of the Year, Civic Entrepreneur of the Year, Mr. San Diego and the Gold Spike Award.

Also recognized was Vincent Mudd, owner, president and chief executive officer of San Diego Office Interiors. Mudd has been recognized in the San Diego community for his leadership in entrepreneurship and sustainability. Mudd and San Diego Office Interiors have won numerous local and national awards including Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the Cool California Award from the California Air Resource Board, Man of the Year, and a number of awards for sustainable design, construction and indoor air quality.

He has also served as Chair of the Citizen’s Fiscal Sustainability Task Force, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, the American Red Cross, numerous investment and audit committees, and is the current chairman of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Mudd has been appointed to executive positions for a variety of local and statewide boards and commissions including: State Compensation Insurance Fund, Workplace Alliance, San Diego County Water Authority, City of San Diego Charter Review Committee, San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation, and SDSU’s Campanile Foundation.

Very active in the community, Mudd has also served as Chair of the Citizen’s Fiscal Sustainability Task Force, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, the American Red Cross, numerous Investment and Audit Committees, and is the current Chairman of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, the largest Chamber of Commerce in the State.

Mudd is a licensed general contractor, and teaches a course on Sustainable Design and Construction at SDSU’s College of Extended Studies.

On Oct. 15, 180 volunteers from PLNU participated in a collaborative community project to restore the urban Swan Canyon in City Heights.

Each year, the locally-based FaceLift committee selects a one-block radius in the City Heights area to receive a makeover during a one-day event held in June and in the fall.

The group spent the day weeding, adding mulch, and cleaning to create a safe entrance into Swan Canyon so children can walk safely to school. The group loaded truckloads of large rocks and boulders to outline a trail and dug holes and installed a fence around the mouth of the canyon so trucks can no longer back up and dump their trash there.

They also weeded and cleared a large median to be ready for native plants to be planted.

Another group worked in the front yard of one house with a landscape artist who donated a design for a low-income family. The students weeded and dug to create a path through the rocky yard.

"It’s inspiring to work with the younger generation and see their commitment to making the world a better place!” said Project Clean Coordinator Linda Pennington.

PLNU joined FaceLift City Heights, San Diego CanyonLands, CRASH, Inc. (Community Resources and Self Help), and the Ocean Discovery Institute in cleaning and beautifying the canyon.

“As always, PLNU rocks!" said Amanda Moss, FaceLift co-chair. "I truly hope they know how much their efforts are appreciated.”

"It was a great day of working alongside each other and helping our neighbors in City Heights," said Becky Modesto, PLNU director of community ministries. "This event has always built a lot of bridges in the community. Everyone joins in and works together and in the end strangers have become friends and a neighborhood is united."

Dr. Son Chae Kim, PLNU professor of nursing, along with Kristyn Ideker, a registered nurse at Scripps Memorial Hospital, led a study of more than 2,000 patients admitted to an acute care hospital over a five-month period and developed a new aggression tool to predict violent patients in medical and surgical wards.

Using the specially designed risk assessment tool was an effective way of identifying violent hospital patients in medical and surgical units, according to a study in the November issue of the Journal of Advanced Nursing.

"Patient violence occurs in all healthcare settings and, although a number of tools have been developed for use in psychiatric units, there is a lack of brief screening tools for medical and surgical settings," said Kim. "That is why we developed the ten-point Aggressive Behaviour Risk Assessment Tool (ABRAT), which was completed within 24 hours of admission and appears to provide a promising tool for predicting which patients will become violent during their hospital stay. For example less than one per cent of patients with an ABRAT rating of zero became violent, compared with 41 percent of those with a rating of two or more."

Key findings of the study included:

Fifty-six of the 2,063 patients (three percent) were involved in one or more of the violent incidents. These included 35 episodes of verbal abuse, 26 physical attacks, 15 threats of physical attack, 12 incidents where an emergency call went out to security personnel and three cases of sexual harassment.

Less than one percent of the patients with an ABRAT score of zero became violent, compared with eight percent of the patients with a score of one and 41 percent of the patients with a score of two or more.

Half of the violent incidents involved patients aged over 70, despite the fact that they only made up 40 percent of the patients studied. Males, who made up 48 percent of the patients studied were almost twice as likely to become violent as females (64 percent versus 34 percent). The researchers quantified the ability of the ABRAT to predict violence in the medical and surgical settings by using the predictive value, where 100 percent represents a perfect prediction.

The negative predictive value of an ABRAT score of zero - the proportion of subjects with negative test results who were correctly classified to represent a low risk of violence – was greater than 99 percent.

The positive predictive value of an ABRAT score of two or more - the proportion of subjects with positive test results who were correctly classified to represent a high risk of violence - was 41 percent.

The five most common predictors of violence were: confusion/cognitive impairment, anxiety, agitation, shouting/demanding and a history of physical aggression.

Nurses who had undergone a training course in use of the tool collected the data from patients admitted to six different medical-surgical units.

"The results from this study indicate that the ten-item ABRAT could be useful in identifying potentially violent patients in medical-surgical units, with acceptable accuracy and agreement between users," said Kim. "Further studies are now needed to see whether the use of the ABRAT can actually reduce violence in clinical settings."